


It'll Be 0kay

by magicites



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-20
Updated: 2012-02-20
Packaged: 2017-10-31 12:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/343972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicites/pseuds/magicites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death is nothing to be afraid of. It's just another stage of life. Aradia thinks Sollux would have already known that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It'll Be 0kay

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song Safe and Sound off of the Hunger Games soundtrack. Link will be posted when AO3 stops putting itself into the link.
> 
> I have no clue how to write either Sollux or Aradia, nor do I have any idea as to how to write them as a couple. This was mostly practice for writing them, but I do like how it turned out. :)

If there’s one thing Sollux has always been, it’s pessimistic, and Aradia knows this better than anyone else. Even though the voices of the dead have finally quieted down, sweeps of being told of the downfall of everything he would ever love have taken their toll.

That’s why when he whispers to her, “AA, I’m going to actually die soon, aren’t I,” she isn’t surprised at all.

She looks back at him, notices the way the light of the green sun glints on the inside of his empty eye socket, and how it glosses over the other, giving it a glassy sheen. A smile crosses her lips, and she floats over to him, gently grabbing his hands and pulling him closer.

“It’s not so bad being fully dead,” she says. “It’s so much more peaceful in the dreambubbles, don’t you think?”

He pulls in his bottom lip, a nervous habit he developed back when he was only a wiggler, trying to deal with fangs too large for even an adult. Now, it only showcases the empty gaps in his mouth where teeth used to be.

She thinks briefly of Equius and the dozen or so nubs of bone in his mouth that used to be teeth. They always made it feel so strange when she kissed him.

“I don’t know, AA. Being doomed sucks ass and all, but being dead kind of sucks too.” He smirks bitterly. Not a single fang peeks over the edge of his lips. “Though you would know that better than me.”

“And how does being half-dead feel like?”

“Like I can’t make up my mind,” he says. “Hell, I can still feel the other me on the meteor. KN’s letting me lean on her. The bites she gave me still sting.” His voice is quiet and empty, with only a hint of the echoing wail the dead speak in. Out here, past even the horrorterrors and both time and space, it sounds like it’ll never end.

Maybe the Outer Gods can hear them as they speak. Maybe Rose and Dave can too, even though they’re not here yet.

“They won’t hurt for long,” she tells him. She’s known him well enough to tell when he’s just trying to hide his feelings. He may be half-dead and 0kay with almost everything, but beneath that he’s still the moody, testy troll she grew up with.

“Jegus fuck, it’s like…here I am, finally where the voices have been telling me to go. All my life, I’ve been told of my own death, but turns out I’m just going to have to float around in front of a giant magical sun looking like a retard with the girl I accidentally killed until I finally can get what I deserve.” He doesn’t look away in shame or embarrassment. She knows he wouldn’t even if he could see her.

“You’re stupid,” she says, laughing. It’s true, he really is stupid, and he doesn’t even give her an offended look when she says it. She supposes he looks down blankly, given the way his eyelids lower slightly, almost bridging the gap his empty socket left.

“Yeah, I am pretty stupid,” he agrees.

“You’re not supposed to agree with me,” she says gently. He looks up at her and blinks, confused. “Besides, death isn’t even a punishment. It hurts for a little bit, sure, but it’s just another stage of life. You should know that better than me.” She can hear the amusement in her own voice. She hopes he picks it up too.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to use my own words against me.” Before she can tell him that it was far too late for that warning, he speaks again, this time more reserved and quiet than before, barely too loud to be a whisper.

“…AA, I really don’t want very much. I just want to fully drop all of the double shit, and let one of me die so I won’t have to deal with him anymore. But really…now that you’re back and not that sweaty asshole’s smooch bot,” Aradia thinks she should be offended, because she knows that she did have feelings for Equius, even if they were (and maybe even are, even if he now has thousands of dead Aradiabots to choose from) more black than red, but she’s laughing too hard to care, “I just want to spend some time with you before you have to go off and do your god-tier, floaty strawberry fairy thing and leave both mes to die all the way. You know, joke around with each other like we did before you died. I miss that.”

She refuses to acknowledge the feeling of her heart breaking. She’d never just leave him all alone, especially not now that she can feel more than just a hollow ache when she hears his voice. Instead, she hugs him tightly, fitting herself around the thin points and sharp angles of his shoulders.

“It’ll be alright, Sollux. No one’s going to hurt you anymore. Not Eridan, not Gamzee, and especially not me. You’re safe now,” she whispers into his ear. No one is around to hear, but she doesn’t want to take the chance. This feels to personal too reveal to prying ears. “I’m not going to leave you, and even if I have to, I’ll come back and visit you in the dreambubbles.”

“Yeah, me and every other dead asshole in the universe,” he grumbles.

“You have a point, but I’ll come visit you first. Okay?” She asks, pulling away.

“Fine. Now, when are those fleshy pink humans are supposed to show up? I don’t want to wait all eternity.”

Even in the ethereal neon glow, Sollux looks handsome. He’s always looked handsome, in his own special, moody shut-in way.

“We won’t have to. Time passes differently here.”

So she kisses his cheek, admires the way a faint shadow of her lipstick clings to his skin, and grabs his hand. Together, they wait for death and rebirth, two concepts that are really one and the same.


End file.
